Seniors lead Rams to win on 'Senior Day'

It was "Senior Day" for the Willow Glen High School field hockey team last Thursday, and boy, were those Rams ever in the mood to celebrate their final home game of the season.

Four seniors scored goals in a rousing 7-0 victory over San Jose as the Rams upped their league-leading record to 10-0-1 in the West Valley Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.

The highlight of the day was a two-goal performance by Gabi Shalhoub; the goals were the first and second in her career at Willow Glen.

Katie Davis also made her senior day a memorable one by scoring the first goal of her career "with a hard shot from the right of the circle," said Willow Glen coach Lynley Takaki.

Seniors Anni Guptill and Molly Ravizza also scored in the win, but knocking in goals is nothing new for this pair. They have been the offensive leaders for the Rams all season long.

Rounding out the scoring for Willow Glen were sophomore Camille Enzweiler, who scored her first goal of the season, and junior Leslie Juarez, who opened the scoring in the 11th minute on a reverse sweep.

The win was the second of the week for the Rams, who had edged Sobrato two days earlier.

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In the win over the Bulldogs, a "great passing sequence in the 21st minute led to a goal by Leslie Juarez assisted by Anni Guptill and Molly Ravizza," said Takaki of her team's first goal.

Guptill later scored an insurance goal in the 57th minute "from the top of the circle" to help the Rams clinch the win.

The Rams were to close out the league season at Branham on Nov. 1. The Bruins are 3-4-3 in division play after splitting a couple of 1-0 decisions with University and Westmont last week.

Junior Penny Yfantis knocked in a first-half goal, and that was all Westmont needed to nail a 1-0 win over Branham and improve its league record to 6-2-1.

Two days later, senior Shelby Wagenman knocked in a second-half goal to break a scoreless tie and lift the Bruins to the 1-0 win over University. Wagenman scored off of assists from seniors Jenny Boltz and Chloe Bell.

Just last week, Los Gatos field hockey players were giving all they had to knock off St. Francis in a key game in the Mt. Hamilton Division. On Thursday night, though, the Wildcats were cheering with everything they had for those Lancers.

The Cats scored three second- half goals to pull away from St. Francis for a 5-3 victory last Tuesday. The same day, Gilroy was battling Archbishop Mitty to a 2-2 draw.

At the end of the day, the two decisions left the Wildcats and Monarchs tied for first place in the division. And barring any upsets on Oct. 30, the two squads would head into the final day of the regular season locked in that first-place tie.

Los Gatos was to visit Presentation on Nov. 1, and later that day Mitty was to take on the tough Lancers.

Of course, Los Gatos had to take care of its own business in games against rival Saratoga and Presentation to remain in the title race. The Cats were to face the Falcons on Oct. 30 before finishing league play at Presentation on Nov. 1. Los Gatos had beaten Saratoga just 2-1 on the first trip through the league standings.

In addition to its 5-3 win over St. Francis, Los Gatos blanked Los Altos 4-0 last week. Gilroy and Mitty tied, but each won later in the week, the Mustangs edging St. Francis 3-2 in overtime and the Monarchs shutting out Leland.

Presentation also blanked Leland, getting three goals from Taylore Jaques in a 4-0 win.